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"The Chart of the Week" is a website devoted to the graphical display and interpretation of social and political data. The general purpose is to develop, illustrate and experiment with different approaches to displaying data in charts and graphs using data from a wide variety of sources. The charts are primarily intended as material for the Political Science 138 course in Quantitative Reasoning in the Social Sciences taught at Illinois State University.
Unless otherwise indicated, each of these charts was prepared by Gary Klass, using the Microsoft Excel chart functions (supplemented by readily available Excel macros and add-ins).
Comments and criticisms of the site are gratefully appreciated, just email me, Gary Klass
Related Links:
Course Links:
COTW Home page | POS138: Quantitative Reasoning | "Presenting Data"
Excel Charting Links:
XY Chart Labeler | Jon's Charts | Ed Ferrero chart page | Tushar Mehta's Excel Tutorials | Stephen Bullen's Excel Page | MsExcel Charting Newsgroup | J.F. Lacher's Chart and Graph Tutorial | Bernard Liengme’s Excel Tips and Tricks
Data Sources Links:
-
Bureau of Justice Statistics - crime data
- Economagic.com - US economic time series, some international
- FedStats A to Z index - a good place to start for US data
- FedStats: US Statistical Agencies - links to all US statistics agencies
- Illinois State University Fact Book
- JCPES Comprehensive Warehouse of Data - on racial populations
- National Center for Education Statistics -state data
- The National Election Studies - biannual political survey
- NORC General Social Survey - annual social survey
- OECD Statistics - international social and economic data
- State Politics and Policy Data Archive
- US Budget - Federal Budget historical tables
- US Statistical Abstract - the best place to start looking for data
Cuzzort, R. P. and James S. Vrettos. "Fundamentals: the Art of Tabular Design," Elementary Forms of Statistical Reasoning, (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996), chapter 4.
Economist Staff, The Economist
Guide to Economic Indicators : Making Sense of Economics (John Wiley &
Sons, 1998)
Kosslyn, Stephen M. Elements of Graph Design (NY: W. H. Freeman, 1994).
Tufte, Edward. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
(Cheshire: Connecticut: Graphics Press, 1983).
Wainer, Howard. Visual Revelations: Graphical Tales of Fate and Deception
from Napoleon Bonaparte to Ross Perot (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, 1997).
Examples of Graphical Excellence:
Public Agenda Online: The Public Agenda "FactFiles" (choose from a long list of policy topics) exhibit the highest standards of the graphical display of social and political data. Scott Bittle, executive editor at Public Agenda and his assistants, Jennifer Tennant and Nancy Cunningham, deserve the highest honors.
<=Back | Course Links | Excel Charting| Data Sources | Bibliography | Graphical Excellence
Wednesday March 26, 2003
Gary Klass
(email)
Dept of Politics and
Government
Illinois State University